Can't Let Go
by UpAllNightWriting
Summary: He's held on to it for three days now. Everybody says that they're sorry, that they know how he feels. But none of them do. They tell him he has to let go, but he won't. He can't. Oneshot about Tim and what happens when his mom died while he was in high school. Sort of happy ending. AU/Maybe OOC


**Hi there! Well, it's been a really long time since I posted a oneshot, so I thought I'd do this just for fun. It's kinda sad, but not everything can be totally happy, right? Anyways, Enjoy**!

Fifteen year old Timothy McGee walked down the halls of the hell hole called Washington High School. He had walked them for almost a year an a half now, being a sophomore. He noticed more than one person staring him as he went to his locker. Quite honestly, Tim didn't care. Nobody had seen or heard from him in over three days. He assumed they all thought he was dead, because that's what happened every time someone was mysteriously missing.

But Tim McGee wasn't dead. Yet. He looked down at the object in his left hand. Tim felt the hot tears appear in his eyes yet again and he quickly blinked them away before anyone saw. That would just give them yet another thing to tease him about.

Tim assumed most, if not all, of the school knew what happened, considering it was on the news three days ago. He sighed as he put the dog tags around his neck and held them in hand and ran into his homeroom. The first person to confront him was his best friend, Spencer.

"Hey, Tim. Listen, I'm really sorry abou-" Spencer managed to get out before Tim cut him off.

"Yeah, I know. Thanks." Tim said with a weak smile. Tim brushed his long bangs out of his face and looked at his friend. Spencer patted him on the back and started to change the subject, knowing that's what Tim really wanted.

But he did notice Tim was holding the dog tags in his hand, and he hadn't let go since he got to school a half an hour ago. Spencer decided not to ask, considering the two friends were having a good conversation about Star Wars. The bell rang, and everyone shuffled out of the room. Tim still held on.

Two classes before his first day back ended, Tim forced himself to Literature. He enjoyed writing, and did so in the little free time he allowed himself, but today, he didn't want to read. Hell, he didn't want to do much of anything. He hadn't let go of his mother's dog tags since he had retrieved them from her before she died. They were around his neck at all times, and he had the tags in his hand every minute of the day that he was awake. It made some things a little difficult, but he couldn't bring himself to let go. Some might call it denial, but Tim didn't believe in that.

"Tim!" he heard his teacher yell. He was abruptly brought back to the reality of his classroom. He snapped his head up and looked at his teacher.

"Yes, Mrs. Hanson?" he asked politely.

"Do you have your essay on Moby Dick for me?" she asked, her eyes boring into his skull. It would have frightened him any other day but today.

"No, ma'am. I've been very busy the past few days." he said, bringing his mother's death to her attention.

"Were you too busy on vacation to read your book and write a report on it, Mr. McGee?" Mrs. Hanson accused. Tim ran his fingers through his hair. 'Great,' he thought. 'Now I have to tell my teacher that my mom just died without crying. I'm screwed.' He looked back at the lady, who was tapping her foot, waiting for an answer.

"I wasn't on vacation, ma'am. My mom died in Iraq three days ago. I've uh... I've been taking care of my five year old sister while my dad came back home from the U.S.S Ronald Reagan. I've read the book, though." Tim said, tears silently threatening to spill over his eyelids.

He buried his head in his hands for a second and rubbed his eyes. When he looked back up, a few of the girls were crying too. It was the first time he had confirmed anything about what happened. Mrs. Hanson looked him in the eyes and spoke.

"If you are making this up, Timothy McGee-" she started before Tim stood up out of his chair and cut her off.

"Why would you think I was making this up! My mom was a Marine fighting overseas when a bomb blew up her Jeep and almost killed her! She died three days ago at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington D.C. My baby sister, Sarah asked me for three days straight where her mommy was after I told her she came back. And my father is a Captain in the United States Navy. He was stationed on the Ronald Reagan when she died! How could I make all that up?" he yelled. He just stared at her and everybody else for a second, then made for the door. Spencer stood up and called after him.

"Tim! Wait, don't-" he said before Tim left the room and ran to the bathroom. He slammed the stall door shut and started to cry.

Jackie Hanson stood, shell shocked for a minute. A student had just yelled at her and ran out of the room. But he had also said that his mother was dead. And his father was in the Navy. She looked at the class.

"Is this true? Is his mother dead?" she asked. She had heard nothing of it, which made her suspicious. Jackie had seen many students try and say that someone in their family had died to get out of doing homework. Spencer was still standing up for some reason. "Mr. Holt, you are good friends with Mr. McGee, no?" she asked him.

"Y- yes. He's my best friend." Spencer answered.

"Is everything he said true?" she inquired.

"Y- yes, ma'am. His mother was a marine. And his dad was stationed on the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan." The boy responded.

"Does he have a sister?" Jackie questioned her pupil.

"Yes, ma'am. Sarah's in first grade." Spencer replied. Silence ensued.

"Um... Can I go get him?" he asked awkwardly.

"Do you know where he is?" Mrs. Hanson snapped back.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure he's in the bathroom." Spencer said, hoping he was right. Nobody had said a word the whole time.

"Hey, Tim?" Spencer said as he entered the bathroom. There was no response.

"Huh." he said as he left. He wasn't in the bathroom, Spencer had checked all the stalls. As he made his way back to the classroom, he heard a noise coming from one of the lockers.

"Tim?" Spencer said as he approached the locker.

"Can you let me out, Spence?" came the voice from inside.

"Yeah- yeah, sure. Hey, about what happened in there. Mrs. Hanson is pretty pissed. I'm pretty sure she's gonna give you a DT. I think she already called the principal." Spencer informed his friend.

"As long as she doesn't call my dad, I really don't give a crap about what she does." Tim said, obviously as equally as pissed off as his teacher.

"Well, we still have to go back to class." Spencer said, glancing down at Tim's hand. He hadn't seen him let go of the dog tags all day.

"Yeah I know." Tim replied dejectedly as he brushed the hair from in front of his eyes. The two walked back into the silent classroom and every head turned. Some of the girls had been crying, but Tim didn't care. Mrs. Hanson looked at him and gestured for him to come up to the front of the room. His face was expressionless, Tim could care less about what was going to happen to him next. He got up and walked to his teacher, who handed him a slip of paper.

"Go back to your seat." she told him and Tim obeyed. As he sat back down, Mrs. Hanson began to teach again. Tim opened the paper and read the note.

'You're excused from the assignment.' was all it said.

Tim waked out of class a half an hour later wearing the same expressionless face. He didn't care about anything anymore. He just wanted to go home and sleep it off, or maybe play with Sarah. Sarah always calmed him down. Tim smiled at the thought of his giggling little sister. He grabbed his books and headed towards Math. Well, at least, he tried to.

Tim turned around to see Jason Powers, perhaps the meanest kid in school standing in front of him. Tim groaned and his face fell. This was the last thing he needed. He opened the locker and started to step into it. He already sat next to him in math, why did he have to put up with him before class started?

"It's ok, Jason. I'll do it my self this time." he said dejectedly. Jason caught his wrist and Tim's eyes grew wide with fear. This was it. Those few moments Tim had to think about why he deserved what was about to come.

"Hey. Chill out. I'm not gonna hurt you. I heard about your family. I just wanted to say- I'm sorry. 'Bout your mom. I know how you feel." Jason whispered as the hall emptied out.

"Yeah right." Tim tried his luck with sarcasm.

"No, seriously. I do. My dad's in the Navy, like yours. Haven't seen him in six months." Jason said. Tim smiled sadly.

"A year and two months for me." he said.

"Look- we should probably get to class." Jason said, letting go of Tim's wrist. He examined the red mark and ran after Jason. They sat down as the bell rang and class began. Tim loved math. He looked down at his book and realized that he already knew what they were supposed to be learning. He moved his bangs out of his face as a note landed on his book. It was from Jason.

'If you wanna talk, I'll be home at three.' it read. Tim contemplated the offer for a moment. He could feel Jason staring at him, waiting for an answer. He looked down at his mother's dog tags, then back to the note.

'Ok.' Tim wrote his phone number on the paper and handed back to Jason.

He glanced down at the tags again. 'Katie McGee' they read. Tim smiled and didn't hold the tears back. He cried silently for a moment and put the tags close to his mouth.

"I won't let go, mom. I promise I'll never let go." he whispered and dropped them into his shirt. Spencer heard the unmistakable clank of metal and looked back at Tim. The exchanged smiles and Tim wiped his eyes. Jason smiled to himself and glanced over at his new found friend.

"I won't let go." he assured himself.

**X~xxx~X**

"MCGEE!" he heard a voice scream in his ear.

"Paging Major McGee! Gibbs is coming!" the voice spoke again. Tim vaguely remembered the voice belonged to a very annoying person.

"McGee! Snap out of it, man! Wake up!" the voice kept talking, but McGee didn't want it to listen. Finally, the searing pain that surged into the back of his head called him back to reality.

"Ouch." he said, looking up from his desk.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Gibbs is coming! Like, now!" Tony said, scooting back to his desk. Tim just glared at him. He had already done his work, but something was off. He finally figured it out when he realized this case was just like his.

"Somebody needs to go interview Jonathan Fallon again. Ask him if he knows anything else about his mother's death. See if he knew this Joey Spinelli character." Gibbs said as he walked in with a cup of coffee. Tony stood up to offer, but McGee beat him to the punch.

"I'll go." he offered, gun and badge already in hand.

"Go." Gibbs said, vaguely remembering Tim's case almost twenty years ago. He wasn't an agent on the case, but he had seen a very young Tim and Sarah McGee walk up to the conference room at one point. Tim smiled. Maybe Jonathan's story could end happier than his.

**And that's the end! Hope you liked it! The idea had been nagging me for a while, and I finally decided to post it. Let me know what you thought because every review goes towards the Make Owl Happy Fund, which does wonders for me! Thanks for reading! ~Owl**


End file.
